Originally built in 1893 to house a paleontology collection and other natural-history
artifacts, Walker Museum’s grand exhibit hall, just inside the north
entrance, was meant to accommodate prehistoric skeletons. Freeing space
for dinosaurs and other displays, Henry Ives Cobb, Walker’s architect,
relegated the staircase to a tower on the three-story building’s southern
side.

The museum space, however, was soon co-opted by the geology, paleontology,
geography, and anthropology departments for classrooms, labs, and offices.
In 1953 Walker’s artifacts departed for the Field Museum, and in 1979
the Graduate School of Business moved in, spending $4 million on renovations.
Carving five stories from the original three, the GSB molded a modern look
for the stairway while retaining a pointed arch and Victorian lighting fixture
at its summit.